The Girl Scouts Period Equity Act, AB 230, passed out of the State Assembly Education Committee, receiving unanimous support from the committee. Inland Empire Girl Scouts from Troop 76 proposed the bill to Assembly Majority Leader Eloise Gómez Reyes earlier this year. Reyes’s legislation expands on the Menstrual Equity for All Act of 2021 (Garcia), which created a requirement for public schools serving grades 6 through 12 to provide free menstrual products. AB 230 would also make these products available to public school students in grades 3 through 5.
“Recent data shows a trend toward an earlier menstruation and it is critical that, when young students need menstrual products, they be free and accessible to them,” said Majority Leader Reyes. “AB 230 is very special to me because of the local Girl Scouts who came up with this idea and are continuing to advocate for it. I want to congratulate Ava and Jillian on their strong testimony today and look forward to their continued efforts as the bill moves through our Legislature.”
“This started with us working on our Silver project to provide period kits to students in elementary schools,” said Jillian Mendoza, one of the two Girl Scouts behind the bill. “We want younger girls to feel prepared and we want to normalize periods for them. If they do not have menstrual products available, it will affect their ability to focus in school.”
“This project is important to us because we started our periods at a young age,” said Ava Firnkoess, the other Troop 76 Girl Scout working to get AB 230 into law. “I have another friend who also started at a young age. She had to use toilet paper and paper towels because she did not have access to menstrual products. We think young students who start their periods need to have access to products, not just those who start in 6th grade or later.”
The Girl Scouts Period Equity Act now advances for a vote in Assembly Appropriations Committee.